JRBP('O'O) June 2025 Newsletter

June 2025

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The 2025 Jasper Ridge Docent Graduation and Summer Picnic celebrated new scientifically trained docents, recognized teaching assistants, and presented awards for environmental education and research excellence. The event also marked the 50th anniversary of the Jasper Ridge docent program and featured a musical performance, delicious food, and celebratory cakes. Read more here.

 

 

For 50 years, the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve's volunteer docents have educated visitors, supported research, and helped steward its unique ecosystem. The docent program, which now requires a rigorous course taught by Professor Rodolfo Dirzo, contributes significantly to the preserve's educational resources and research efforts. Read the Stanford Report article here.

 

 

Remember to visit our Research Projects page to continue learning about the research projects at Jasper Ridge. Visit this link to explore all projects.

 

Maya Xu, undergraduate researcher, JR docent, Mellon awardee, and mentored by Assoc. Dean and Prof. Rodolfo Dirzo, was awarded the Firestone Medal for her undergraduate honors thesis on identifying and quantifying heavy metals in the diets of a breeding pair of golden eagles and their young at Jasper Ridge and California peregrine falcons on main campus. Maya’s work highlights the interconnectedness of the food web, and how localized actions can have negative broader impacts.

 

Ireland Sherrill, PhD Candidate mentored by Asst. Prof. Elliott White Jr., is our latest Mellon awardee for her research titled “Assessing the Accuracy of Spaceborne Foliar Nitrogen Estimates Compared to Ground-Based Measurements in a Mixed Mediterranean Forest”. Throughout the preserve, Ireland will sample leaves from the canopy for elemental analysis of nitrogen and compare with estimates obtained through hyperspectral satellite imagery, which has direct implications for accurately assessing photosynthetic capacity. Ireland and Asst. Prof. White Jr. are in the Dept. of Earth System Science at the Doerr School of Sustainability.

 

Joaquin Lopez, PhD student advised by Asst. Prof. María Rebolleda-Gómez at UC Irvine, is examining how black mustard (Brassica nigra) invasions alter soil microbial communities and create legacy effects that impact native annuals. Joaquin samples soil across gradients of invasion to sequence microbial communities, compare microbial diversity across plant diversity, and identify interacting genes.

 

The herbarium crew successfully removed over 1,700 teasel flower heads (Dipsacus sativus) in a once thriving milkweed meadow (trail 10), preventing approximately 400,000 seeds from dispersing into the seed bank. This has been an ongoing effort to deplete the seed bank since 2023. Projects like this will be added to Jasper Ridge’s invasive plant species management plan. To read more about the herbarium’s documentation of weeds and weeding efforts, visit the Herbarium webpage. 

 

Dr. Rosa McGuire, postdoctoral scholar working with Prof. and Faculty Director, Tad Fukami, is conducting a second round of experiments on monkeyflowers, Diplacus aurantiacus, and nectar microbes in the chaparral east of Searsville Reservoir. To learn more about how Rosa seeks to investigate how changing climate alters nectary community composition, read the research project page.

 

 

 

We are thrilled to announce the 2025 Jasper Ridge Environmental Education Scholars, Kelly Benitez and Rahsaan McFarland II! Kelly and Rahsaan are inspiring the new generation of environmental leaders! They are both uniquely leading the charge in environmental education, dedicated to expanding access to outdoor learning for Stanford and Bay Area students who have historically been underrepresented in these experiences. Read more about their efforts that ignite a spark of curiosity and long-term engagement for the environment in young minds in the award webpage.

 

 

Fuel reduction continues at Jasper Ridge, with a second round of mowing fast growing grass along fire roads and the preserve perimeter along Sand Hill Road. Thanks Steve and John! 

 

Following the Jasper Ridge Fuel Reduction and Vegetation Management plan, Sheena Sidhu has scheduled the maintenance of the shaded and complete fuel break along Westridge boundary for July. 

 

Similarly, following the Invasive Plant management plan Sheena has organized an invasive species management activity in the pile burn area near Mapache Gate. Thistle plants were removed around the western bewildering bushmallow. Staff and volunteers removed 2700 small and medium thistle plants of several thistle species. See pictures by Dan Quinn in his webpage

 

Sheena continues to build these comprehensive plans for the preserve. If interested, please contact Sheena Sidhu for more information.

 

 

Your support is essential in all of our research, educational and stewardship activities!

 

Thank you to the following docents for leading educational tours in May and sharing your time and knowledge with our visitors: Adelaide Nye, Klaus Porzig, Bob Siegel, Mary Bernstein, Cheryl Gold Shaffer, Carl Cheney, Katie Glover, Jonathan Segal, Kelly Benitez, Eva Shen, Catherine Magill, Sue Schmitt,  Jane Moss, and Pearl Shing Roth.

 

Many thanks to the docents who assisted in research projects in May: Perry McCarty, Bill Gomez, Teal Derrer, Tom Malloy, Mary Bernstein, Meredith McClintock, and Kit Gordon

 

A big thank you to all docents who supported these stewardship efforts: Rebecca Reynolds, Mary Bernstein, Dawn Neisser, Alice Cummings, Paul Heiple, John Rawlings, Diane Renshaw, Catherine Magill, Marty Hufty, Helen Quinn, Dan Quinn, Roger Hines.

 

 

To support JRBP ('O'O) in its new challenges, please visit our Donate page (link here), thank you!

 

 

 

Group picture of the 2025 class of Jasper Ridge and their fellow docents right before they practiced their first ecology and natural history educational tour. Photo credit: Trevor Hébert.